Electronic message recipient disposition characteristics

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method for determining recipient disposition characteristics of an electronic message that was acted upon by an electronic message reader is described. The method includes receiving by a computer system message requests in response to the electronic message reader acting on the electronic message and executing by the computer system one or more rules that compare a value of one or more fields included in the one or more message requests to one or more field values included in the one or more rules.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to provisionalU.S. Patent Application 61/148,422, filed on Jan. 30, 2009, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

An e-mail tracker monitors the delivery of an e-mail to the intendedrecipient. E-mail trackers use a digitally time-stamped record tomonitor the time and date that an e-mail was received or opened, as wellthe internet protocol (“IP”) address of the recipient. Through an e-mailtracker, a sender ascertains whether the intended recipient received thee-mail, or if the intended recipient clicked links included in thee-mail. E-mail trackers also provide the sender of the e-mail with adelivery service notification (“DSN”): a request to the recipient'se-mail server to send the sender of the e-mail a notification about thedelivery of an e-mail. The DSN is an e-mail and includes informationindicating whether delivery succeeded, failed, was delayed, or whetherthe recipient's email server was unable to provide a receipt ofdelivery.

One technique for tracking the delivery characteristics of an electronicmessage involves the use of seed lists (e.g., a list of decoy emailaddresses included in a marketing organization's marketing list) totrack how an internet service provider (“ISP”) handles the electronicmessage.

For example, a marketing organization sends a large number of potentialrecipients marketing electronic messages as part of a marketingcampaign. These recipients can have various ISP's. Included in thee-mail addresses are seed e-mail addresses, e.g., e-mail addresses ofdummy accounts at some or all of the various ISPs. By sending themarketing electronic messages to the seed email addresses, the marketingcompany tracks whether the targets' ISPs block or deliver the marketingelectronic messages.

SUMMARY

However, the seed list fails to provide the marketing company withinformation regarding how the recipients disposed of the messages butonly that the message may have passed though an ISP's filters, etc.Similarly, DSN messages provide a sender of an electronic message withdelivery receipt information. However, delivery receipt information alsofails to provide the sender of an electronic message with informationregarding how the recipient of the electronic message disposes (e.g.,whether the electronic message was placed in a spam folder or a personalemail folder or whether the electronic message was forwarded) of theelectronic message.

Techniques are described herein for providing the sender withinformation regarding how the recipient disposes of and views thesender's electronic message. For example, message requests are receivedby a computer system in response to an electronic message reader actingon an electronic message. The computer system executes one or more rulesthat compare a value of one or more fields included in the one or moremessage requests to one or more field values included in the one or morerules. The computer system also determines based on execution of the oneor more rules one or more recipient disposition characteristics of theelectronic message that was acted upon by the electronic message reader.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Themessage requests include hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”) datamessage requests, HTTP header message requests and HTTP connection datamessage requests. The message requests also include one or more HTTPrequest headers and the one or more fields included in the one or moremessage requests comprise one or more folder placement fields includedin the one or more HTTP request headers.

The execution of the one or more rules causes the computer system todetermine whether the electronic message was placed in a spam, a trashor an inbox folder associated with the electronic message reader on aclient system or whether the electronic message was forwarded to arecipient. The computer system also generates a list of field valuesassociated with fields specifying electronic message recipientdisposition characteristics and executes one or more rules using fieldvalues in the generated list to identify recipient dispositioncharacteristics of the electronic message. The computer system furthertracks the determined recipient disposition characteristics for aspecific electronic message, generates a response message for a clientsystem running the electronic message reader according to the trackedrecipient disposition characteristics, and sends the response message tothe client system.

The contents of the request message are parsed to identify one or morefields and an associated field value of the one or more fields. Rulesare applies to the parsed request message to determine whether theelectronic message was viewed by a recipient in the electronic messagereader using a preview pane or using a full pane message view, whetherthe electronic message reader “forward” function or “reply” function or“reply to all” function were initiated by the recipient relative to theelectronic message, whether the electronic message reader “report/markas spam” function or its equivalent was initiated by the recipientrelative to the electronic message, and whether the electronic messagereader “add to address book/safe sender” function or its equivalent wasinitiated by the recipient relative to the electronic message.

The rules are ordered and applied to the request message based on anordering according to one or more combinations of accuracy, specificity,confidence in the outcome of the rule or efficiency. The rules are alsogrouped according to accuracy, specificity, confidence in the outcome ofthe rule or efficiency.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system executing electronicmessage recipient disposition characteristic determination software.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of processes used by a tracking system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While, delivery characteristics of an electronic message involve thenotification of receipt of delivery of the electronic message (e.g., DSNmessages), such delivery characteristics tell the sender littleconcerning what final disposition was made by the recipient.

Described herein is a class of electronic message notifications,referred to as “recipient disposition characteristics.” Recipientdisposition characteristics of a transmitted and delivered electronicmessage (e.g., an e-mail, a text message, and a short message service(“SMS”) message) are determined using a tracking server. Recipientdisposition characteristics include folder placement (i.e., inbox folderplacement, spam folder placement, and trash folder placement) of theelectronic message (“tracked electronic message”) in a recipient'selectronic message reader (e.g., Outlook™, Thunderbird™, Lotus Notes,IPhone™, mobile phone mail, web mail applications, and Blackberry™message reader). The tracking server determines the recipientdisposition characteristics of a tracked electronic message through thereceipt of a message request generated by the recipient's electronicmessage reader and sent to the tracking server. When the recipient ofthe tracked electronic message opens, clicks, displays or takes someother action with respect to the link, the electronic message readerexecutes a link embedded in the tracked electronic message. Theexecution of this link causes a message request to be generated and sentto the tracking server. The message request includes headers (e.g.,Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (“HTTP”) Request Headers) which areparsed by the tracking server. The tracking server applies heuristicrules to the parsed headers to determine the recipient dispositioncharacteristics of the tracked electronic message.

Referring to FIG. 1, a network computer system 10 includes a trackingserver 12 executing software to determine recipient dispositioncharacteristics of a tracked electronic message. The networked computersystem 10 is connected through a network 16 (e.g., the Internet, anintranet, a virtual private network, a wide area network, a localnetwork, a private network, a wireless fidelity (“WiFi”) network), toclient systems 18 a to 18 i executing electronic message reader software20 a to 20 i. Client systems 18 a to 18 i include computing devices andprocessing devices (e.g., personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), mobilephones, desktop computers, laptop computers, and Blackberries).

The tracking server 12 is connected to a heuristic rules database 22that stores heuristic rules that are applied to data and headers inreceived data, including “request” messages and log files. The trackingserver 12 is also connected to a recipient disposition characteristicsdatabase 24 that stores recipient disposition characteristics of trackedelectronic messages. The databases 22 and 24 may run on the same machineas server 12 or on different machines. Databases 22 and 24 may be indifferent databases, on different machines, or they may be separateschemas in the same database on the same machine. The client systems 18a-18 i are connected to the server 12 by the network 16.

The tracking server 12 and client systems 18 a-18 i communicate directlyand indirectly over the network 16 using various communication protocols(e.g., proprietary protocols, Ethernet protocols, and HTTP protocols).The communication is facilitated by any device capable of transmittingdata (e.g., client HTTP requests and server responses) to and from othercomputers, including modems (e.g., dial-up or cable), networks andwireless interfaces.

The tracking server 12 includes a processor 14 and memory 26. Theprocessor 14 executes a recipient disposition characteristicsdetermination process that detects and records recipient dispositioncharacteristics of a sent electronic message that was addressed to aparticular electronic message recipient. The process 14 detects“recipient disposition characteristic data” that is what happens to theelectronic message at a client application running on client systems 18a-18 i by an action initiated by the recipient. For example, the processdetects a folder location for where the electronic message was opened,viewed (e.g., an inbox folder, a spam folder and/or a delete mailfolder, etc) of a delivered electronic message. The details of therecipient disposition characteristic data for the recipients usingclient systems 18 a-18 i are recorded and collated in database 24 toprovide a report of the recipient's use of the delivered electronicmessage. The source of the tracked electronic message includes anelectronic message server 28, the tracking server 12 and other computingdevices.

When a user of client systems 18 a-18 i receives a tracked electronicmessage from the electronic message server 28, the tracked electronicmessage includes an embedded link for the user to select to download animage or receive additional information. When the user selects the link,client system 18 a-18 i generates a message request (e.g., a HTTP datarequest, a HTTP header request and/or a HTTP connection data request,etc.) that is sent to a host server 30 (e.g., a URI host server) overthe network 16. The host server 30 is the server that hosts or containsthe information requested by virtue of the recipient selecting the link.The message request is also generated by other uses actions, includingopening the tracked electronic message and causing an image within thetracked electronic message to be displayed. The message request sentfrom the client system 18 a-18 i includes data concerning the recipientdisposition characteristics (e.g., the electronic location of thetracked electronic message, placement indicia, and folder identifiers).The message request also includes data concerning the identity of theparticular electronic message that is the source of the request to thehost server 30, data concerning the identity of the recipient of theelectronic message, and data concerning the identity of the originalsender of the electronic message, as discussed in further detail below.

In response to the message request, the host server 30 sends a responsemessage to the client system 18 a-18 i. The response message includes animage file or other data file for display in the client's electronicmessage reader 20 a-20 i.

The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i also generates and sends messagerequests to the host server 30 independent of a user of the clientsystem 18 a-18 i executing a clicking action (e.g., via a mouse) of anyparticular link or icon associated with or contained in the trackedelectronic message. The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i generatesmessage requests when the tracked electronic message includes anembedded image (e.g., a Graphics Interchange Format (“GIF”) image or aJoint Photographic Experts Group (“JPEG”) image) or other embeddedinformation associated with an address link (e.g., a Uniform ResourceLocator (“URL”) string or a Uniform Resource Identifier (“URI”) string).The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i sends a request to a device(i.e., the host server 30) associated with the address link for theembedded information so that the electronic message reader 20 a-20 i isable to display the embedded information.

The message requests from the client system 18 a-18 i to the host server30 (or the tracking sever 12) include data representative of therecipient disposition characteristics (e.g., the folder location and/oridentification of the client's electronic message reader) of the trackedelectronic message. The data is generated in numerous ways, includingbeing embedded in the tracked electronic message when it is sent fromthe electronic message reader 20 a-20 i on the client system 18 a-18 iand being generated by the electronic message reader 20 a-20 i on theclient system 18 a-18 i in conjunction with data associated with of oneor more links of the sent electronic message. The host server 30 storesthe message requests and generates a log file with the headerinformation, referrer data and other data (e.g., information indicativeof the identity of the sender or the time in which the electronicmessage was received) included in the message requests. The log file issent to the tracking server 12, typically on request by the trackingserver 12, and the tracking server 12 parses and analyzes the log fileto determine the recipient disposition characteristics of the trackedelectronic message.

Recipient Disposition Characteristic Data

The tracking server 12 tracks the location and the recipient'sdisposition of the e-mail message by parsing log files, requested by thetracking server 12 from the host server 30, and/or analyzing the message“requests” that include recipient disposition characteristic data, andapplying a rules engine to that recipient disposition characteristicdata.

When a sender mails an electronic message to a recipient, the sender hasan interest in determining “folder placement” data (e.g., whether thatelectronic message was placed in the inbox folder or the spam folder ofan electronic message reader 20 a-20 i).

The tracking server's detection of this folder placement data allows thesender to: 1) enhance an interpretation of a particular campaign'sperformance in the case of a commercial sender, 2) assess whetherremedial action is required to ensure more preferential placement in thefuture, and 3) determine whether an alternative communication with therecipient is likely to be more reliable under the assumption thatelectronic messages placed in the spam folder or trash folder are lesslikely to seen and/or acted upon in a timely fashion. Folder placementdata also includes information indicative of whether the recipient ofthe tracked electronic message has placed the tracked electronic messagein a personal folder (i.e., a folder that the recipient has customgenerated).

The tracking server 12 also determines “screen view” data (i.e., whetherthe electronic message was viewed by the recipient in the electronicmessage reader 20 a-20 i using a preview pane or a full message pane).The detection of this screen view data allows the sender of anelectronic message to evaluate the level of recipient engagement withthe message and allows the sender to ensure that future message contentis organized in such a way to take advantage of the particular view usedby the recipient.

The tracking server 12 also determines “message forward” data (i.e.,whether the electronic message reader's “forward” function or equivalentwas initiated by the recipient of an electronic message) and “messagereply” data (i.e., whether the electronic message reader's “reply”function or equivalent was initiated by the recipient of an electronicmessage). The detection of this message forward and message reply dataallows the sender of the electronic message to assess the recipient'sengagement with the message and the recipient's evaluation of whetherthe message content is suitable for the recipient's associates. Thetracking server 12 also detects a user's generation of a subsequentelectronic message.

The tracking server 12 also determines “spam” data (i.e., whether theelectronic message reader's “report/mark as spam” function or itsequivalent was initiated by the recipient of an electronic message.) Thedetection of this spam data allows the sender to assess if theelectronic message was not positively received by the recipient and toassess the conditions causing the electronic message to be reported asspam. The spam data also allows the sender to proactively remove therecipient's electronic message address from the sender's mailing list.

The tracking server 12 also determines “mark safe” data (i.e., whetherthe “add to address book/safe sender” function or its equivalent wasinitiated by the recipient of the electronic message.) The detection ofthe mark safe data allows the sender to assess if the electronic messagewas positively received by the recipient and to assess the conditionsthat may have resulted in a positive reaction. Through the mark safedata, the sender of the electronic message is notified that the sender'selectronic message receives preferential treatment by the recipient,because in electronic message readers 20 a-20 i electronic messages fromsenders located in the recipient's address book are automaticallydisplayed with images enabled and/or are marked with a favorable icon.

The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i on client system 18 a-18 ireceives an electronic message from a sender with a link (e.g., ahyperlink to web pages or images, a URI string or a URL string) embeddedin the electronic message. The link is a string representing a“resource” (e.g., an image, a web-page, a script or a type of file thatis executed through an HTTP request) that is the target of the link.

The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i executes the embedded link andgenerates 34 a message request (e.g., HTTP Request Header) which is sentto the host server 30. The electronic message reader 20 a-20 i executesthe embedded link by initiating an HTTP session with the host server 30on which the resource identified in the link is requested. Thegeneration of the message request is initiated by user action, includingthe recipient of the electronic message clicking on link. The messagerequest is also generated through an action performed by the recipient'sclient system 18 a-18 i, including the electronic message reader 20 a-20i on the client system 18 a-18 i executing a reference to an inlineimage in the electronic message. The execution of the referencegenerates a request for the inline image and this request is sent in amessage request to the host server 30, and is generally logged in orstored in a log file on the host server 30 and/or is sent to thetracking server 12.

Referring to FIG. 2, the tracking server 12 determines 32 recipientdisposition characteristic data as follows. The tracking server 12receives 34, either the log files from the host server 30 and/or themessage “requests” from the client systems 18 a-18 i. The messagerequest and the log files include data and headers (e.g., HTTP headers)with information (e.g., data tags) indicative of the recipientdisposition characteristics of the tracked electronic message. Theheaders are separated from the response body of the message request by ablank line. If the tracking server 12 receives the message requests, theheader data is stored in a temporary cache for real-time analysis by thetracking server 12. If the host server 30 receives the message requests,the header data is output to a log-file and/or other data storage mediumand sent to the tracking server 12 for analysis.

The tracking server 12 parses 36 the received message requests or logfiles to identify specific header information and referrer data. Thetracking server 12 includes a list of header and referrer identifiersand parses the received message requests or log files by comparingcharacters included in the received message requests and/or log files tothe header and referrer identifiers in the list.

The tracking server 12 retrieves 38 the heuristic rules stored in theheuristic rules database 22 (FIG. 1) and applies 40 the heuristic rulesto the contents of the parsed messages requests and/or log files.Through the application of the heuristic rules, the tracking server 12determines the recipient disposition characteristics data of the trackedelectronic message and stores 42 the recipient dispositioncharacteristics data in the recipient disposition characteristicsdatabase 24 (FIG. 1), as discussed in further detail below.

For receipt of log files from the host server 30, the log files includethe message headers for the message requests. Table A below includesHTTP headers included in the message requests as contained in the logfiles. The headers included in the message request are received by thehost server 30 on which the resource referenced by the embedded link islocated, or an interim server through which the message request isrouted where the interim server is acting as a tracking server 12.

TABLE A Header Description Example Accept Content-Types that areacceptable Accept: text/plain Accept-Charset Character sets that areacceptable Accept-Charset: iso-8859-5 Accept-Encoding Acceptableencodings Accept-Encoding: compress, gzip Accept-Language Acceptablelanguages for response Accept-Language: da Accept-Ranges Allows theserver to indicate its Accept-Ranges: bytes acceptance of range requestsfor a resource Authorization Authentication credentials for HTTPAuthorization: Basic authentication QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==Cache-Control Used to specify directives that Cache-Control: no-cacheMUST be obeyed by all caching mechanisms along the request/responsechain Connection What type of connection the user- Connection: closeagent would prefer Cookie an HTTP cookie previously sent by Cookie:$Version=1; UserId=JohnDoe the server with Set-Cookie (below)Content-Type The mime-type of the body of the Content-Type:application/x-www- request (used with POST and PUT form-url encodedrequests) Date The date and time that the message Date: Tue, 15 Nov.1994 08:12:31 GMT was sent Expect Indicates that particular serverExpect: 100-continue behaviors are required by the client Host Thedomain name of the server Host: en.wikipedia.org If-Match Perform theaction if the client If-Match: supplied entity matches the same“737060cd8c284d8af7ad3082f209582d” entity on the server. This is mainlyfor methods like PUT to update a resource if it has not been modifiedsince the user last updated it. If-Modified-Since Allows a 304 NotModified to be If-Modified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct. 1994 returned if contentis unchanged 19:43:31 GMT If-None-Match Allows a 304 Not Modified to beIf-None-Match: returned if content is unchanged“737060cd8c284d8af7ad3082f209582d” If-Range If the entity is unchanged,send me If-Range: the part(s) that I am missing;“737060cd8c284d8af7ad3082f209582d” otherwise, send me the entire newentity If-Unmodified-Since Send the response if the entity hasIf-Unmodified-Since: Sat, 29 Oct. 1994 not been modified since aspecific 19:43:31 GMT time. Max-Forwards Limit the number of times theMax-Forwards: 10 message can be forwarded through proxies or gateways.Pragma Implementation-specific headers that Pragma: no-cache may havevarious effects anywhere along the request-response chain.Proxy-Authorization Authorization credentials for Proxy-Authorization:Basic connecting to a proxy. QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ== Range Requestpart of an entity. Range: bytes=500-999 Referer This is the address ofthe previous Referer: web page from which a link to thehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page currently requested page wasfollowed. TE The transfer encodings the user is TE: trailers,deflate;q=0.5 willing to accept. Upgrade Ask the server to upgrade toanother Upgrade: HTTP/2.0, SHTTP/1.3, protocol. IRC/6.9, RTA/x11User-Agent The user agent string of the user User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0(Linux; X11; agent UTF-8) Via Informs the server of proxies Via: 1.0fred, 1.1 nowhere.com through which the request was sent. (Apache/1.1)Warn A general warning about possible Warn: 199 Miscellaneous warningproblems with the entity body.

Heuristic Rules

The heuristic rules include a heuristic rule for determining folderplacement data, a heuristic rule for determining screen view data, aheuristic rule for determining message forward data and message replydata, a heuristic rule for determining spam data, and a heuristic rulefor determining mark safe data. The tracking server 12 groups theheuristic rules into heuristic rule groups. Dependent upon the objectiveand interest of the entity analyzing the data, one or more heuristicrule groups and one or more rules within these rule groups are appliedto the data and headers included in the message request. For example, iffolder placement is of interest, the heuristic rule groups and ruleswithin the heuristic rule groups that determine folder placement dataare executed.

The heuristic rules are ordered for execution both within a heuristicrule group and across heuristic rule groups based on one or morecombinations of accuracy, specificity, efficiency, and confidence in theoutcome of the rule. The heuristic rule groups and rules within aheuristic rule group with a higher level of specificity are ordered tobe executed first by the recipient disposition characteristicdetermination process 14 and are set to overwrite other rules with alesser degree of specificity. Rules with lesser degrees of specificityare ordered to be executed subsequent to rules with higher degrees ofspecificity and are ordered to run as default rules that are overwrittenby rules with a higher level of specificity.

Additionally, to optimize speed and efficiency of the tracking server12, the rule groups and rules within the rule groups that have thehighest number of incidences (e.g., hits) within a sample data set areordered to run before those rule groups and rules with a lower number ofincidences. Upon the detection of a predefined recipient dispositioncharacteristic (e.g., folder placement), the tracking server 12 stopsexecuting rules against data and headers included in the messagerequest.

The heuristic rules include instructions to compare one or morecharacters included in the headers and data of a message request (e.g.,field values included in the message request) to predefined recipientdisposition characteristics, including Folder Placement=“Inbox” andFolder Placement=“Spam Folder” or a combination of recipient dispositioncharacteristics, including Folder Placement=“Inbox” and ScreenView=“Full Message”. The heuristic rules perform exact matches,substring matches, and regular expressions matches (or a combination ofthe foregoing matches) between all or a portion of the data and headersincluded in the message request and the predefined recipient dispositioncharacteristics.

The heuristic rules are constructed taking into consideration dataderived from known characteristics of a particular electronic messagereader 20 a-20 i (e.g., some electronic message readers 20 a-20 iprovide a full message screen view and other electronic message readers20 a-20 i provide a preview pane screen view). The heuristic rules arealso constructed using data derived from empirical characteristics(e.g., data derived from interactions with electronic messages),including a person logging into an online electronic message reader 20a-20 i (e.g., Yahoo's Email Reader), opening an electronic message thathad been placed in the Inbox Folder of the electronic message reader 20a-20 i and comparing the resultant HTTP Request Header to a HTTP RequestHeader generated when the electronic message is placed in the SpamFolder of the electronic message reader 20 a-20 i. Thus, heuristic rulesare also constructed using empirical characteristic data.

The heuristic rules are also constructed using assumed and logicpatterns derived from data analysis of message requests. A sample set ofdata and headers included in message requests are analyzed to identifycommon patterns and to determine variations in the arguments associatedwith the header. The “folder=” argument included in the “Referrer”header is analyzed by the tracking sever 12 and a list of the arguments(e.g., field values associated with the Referrer header), including“folder=inbox”, “folder=spam” and “folder=trash”, associated with theReferrer header are generated. The tracking server 12 generatesheuristic rules based on the determined arguments (e.g., Ifheader=“Referrer” header and folder=“spam,” then electronic message hasbeen placed in the spam folder.) In addition to the generation of rulesto determine the recipient disposition characteristics of electronicmessages, rules are also generated to determine the identity of theoriginal sender of the electronic message. These rules are referred toas identity rules. Identity rules are also generated using data andheaders included in the message request. The generated heuristic rulesinclude the rules included in Table B, below.

TABLE B Characteristic/Condition HTTP Header and Outcome field analyzedInstruction/Heuristic Rule Folder Placement = “Inbox” Referer Includesan Argument equal to one or more of the following: fid=inboxfolderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000- 000000000001 msgid=inboxdelimbox=inbox fn=inbox folder=inbox mail_folder=inbox msgvw=inboxfolder=sf_inbox Folder Placement = “Spam Folder” Referer Refererincludes an Argument equal to one or more of the following:fid=%2540b%2540bulk folderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000- 000000000005msgid=spamdelim folder=Screened%20Mail folder=mailguardmail_folder=inbox.spamverdacht foldername=/junk%20mail mailbox=bulkFolder Placement = “Trash” Referer Referer includes an Argument equal toone or more of the following: fid=trash folder=trashfolderid=00000000-0000-0000-0000- 000000000002 folder=inbox.trashfoldername=/deleted%20items mailbox=inbox.deleted mailbox=trashfid=deleted+items Screen View = “Full Message” Referer + Host Refererincludes a (Path equal to: *popout.jsp) AND Host (Or Referer) includes aDomain equal to: */earthlink.net) Screen View = “Full Message” UserAgent User Agent includes a string equal to any of the following:Windows CE Blackberry Screen View = “Full Message” User Agent + Referer= “ “ (blank) Referer AND User Agent includes a string equal to any ofthe following: AOL 6% AOL 5% AOL 4% Screen View = “Full Message” Refereror Host Referer or Host includes a domain equal to any of the following:Gmail.net Virgilio.net Screen View = “Preview Pane” Referer + HostReferer includes a (Path equal to: *preview.jsp) AND Host (Or Referer)includes a Domain equal to any of the following: */earthlink.net*/peoplepc.com Screen View = “Preview Pane” Referer Referer includes anArgument equal to: templ=readpane.html Message Forward = “Yes” RefererReferer includes an Argument equal to any of the following:Action=forward Message Forward = “Yes” Referer Referer includes aFilename equal to any of the following: /compose.aspx /emailItem.jspMark as Spam = “Yes” Referer Referer includes a Filename equal to any ofthe following: /blocksender2 /SuspectPromptAdd Mark as Safe = “Yes”Referer Referer includes an Argument equal to any of the following:Action=addcontactresult Baddcontact=true

The tracking server 12 records the recipient disposition characteristicsdata determined through the application of the heuristic rules. Therecipient disposition characteristics data is stored in the recipientdisposition characteristics database 24 and is also written to filesincluded in the database 24. In addition to determining the recipientdisposition characteristics for a particular electronic message, thetracking server 12 also determines the identity of the original senderof the electronic message through the execution of the identity rules.Because the original sender's identity is tracked, the tracking server12 tracks the recipient disposition characteristics of a particularelectronic message delivered to many electronic message recipients. Inthis regard, an analysis module executed by the tracking server 12determines tracking statistics for a particular electronic message thatis delivered to multiple recipients. Tracking statistics include apercentage of recipients placing the tracked electronic message in aspam folder, a percentage of recipients placing the tracked electronicmessage in an inbox folder and a percentage of recipients adding thesender of the electronic message to an electronic address box.

Additionally, the recipient disposition characteristics data are inputinto another process or program to customize the response sent from thetracking server 12 to the electronic message reader 20 a-20 i inresponse to the message request. A particular image or webpage isincluded in the response message based on the tracked recipientdisposition characteristic such as the folder location (e.g., arecipient placing the electronic message in an “inbox” folder receivesone image and a recipient placing the electronic message in a “spam”folder receives another image.)

Embodiments can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or incomputer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations thereof.Apparatus of the invention can be implemented in a computer programproduct tangibly embodied or stored in a machine-readable storage devicefor execution by a programmable processor; and method actions can beperformed by a programmable processor executing a program ofinstructions to perform functions of the invention by operating on inputdata and generating output. The invention can be implementedadvantageously in one or more computer programs that are executable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processorcoupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data andinstructions to, a data storage system, at least one input device, andat least one output device. Each computer program can be implemented ina high-level procedural or object oriented programming language, or inassembly or machine language if desired; and in any case, the languagecan be a compiled or interpreted language.

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory ora random-access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devicesfor storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will alsoinclude, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer datato, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. Computer readablemedia for embodying computer program instructions and data include allforms of non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magneticdisks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto opticaldisks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in special purpose logic circuitry. Anyof the foregoing can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, ASICs(application-specific integrated circuits).

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments can be implementedon a computer having a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) orLCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displaying information to theuser and a keyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball,by which the user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds ofdevices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; forexample, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensoryfeedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback;and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic,speech, or tactile input.

Embodiments can be implemented in a computing system that includes aback end component, e.g., as a data server, or that includes amiddleware component, e.g., an application server, or that includes afront end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphical userinterface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with animplementation of embodiments, or any combination of such back end,middleware, or front end components. The components of the system can beinterconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication,e.g., a communication network. Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN), e.g.,the Internet.

The system and method use the “World Wide Web” (Web or WWW), which isthat collection of servers on the Internet that utilize the HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is a known application protocol thatprovides users access to resources, which may be information indifferent formats such as text, graphics, images, sound, video,Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), as well as programs. Uponspecification of a link by the user, the client computer makes a TCP/IPrequest to a Web server and receives information, which may be anotherWeb page that is formatted according to HTML. Users can also accessother pages on the same or other servers by following instructions onthe screen, entering certain data, or clicking on selected icons. Itshould also be noted that any type of selection device known to thoseskilled in the art, such as check boxes, drop-down boxes, and the like,may be used for embodiments using web pages to allow a user to selectoptions for a given component. Servers run on a variety of platforms,including UNIX machines, although other platforms, such as Windows2000/2003, Windows NT, Sun, Linux, and Macintosh may also be used.Computer users can view information available on servers or networks onthe Web through the use of browsing software, such as NetscapeNavigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mosaic, or Lynx browsers. Thecomputing system can include clients and servers. A client and serverare generally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

Other embodiments are within the scope and spirit of the description andthe claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functionsdescribed above can be implemented using software, hardware or firmwareor combinations thereof. Features implementing functions may also bephysically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations. It will be understood that various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the application.

1-27. (canceled)
 28. A computer-implemented method, within and by atracking computer system, for tracking an electronic message between amessage server and a client system, comprising: receiving a messagerequest associated with the electronic message sent from the messageserver to the client system; evaluating the message request with a rulestored within the tracking computer system; and identifying, based uponthe evaluation, one or more recipient disposition characteristics of theelectronic message.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the identifiedone or more recipient disposition characteristics for a specificelectronic message is stored within the tracking computing system. 30.The method of claim 29, wherein the specific electronic message isreceived by a plurality of client systems, and one or more recipientdisposition characteristics for the specific electronic message areidentified for each of the plurality of client systems.
 31. The methodof claim 30, wherein tracking statistics, associated with the specificelectronic message, are outputted by the tracking computer system basedupon the one or more identified recipient disposition characteristicsfor each of the plurality of client systems.
 32. The method of claim 29,further comprising: generating a response message based upon the trackedone or more recipient disposition characteristics; and sending theresponse message to the client system.
 33. The method of claim 28,further comprising: comparing the message request with a plurality ofrules according to a pre-specified ordering.
 34. A tracking computersystem configured to track an electronic message between a messageserver and a client system, comprising: at least one hardware processor,wherein the at least one hardware processor is configured to initiateand/or perform: receiving a message request associated with theelectronic message sent from the message server to the client system;evaluating the message request with a rule stored within the trackingcomputer system; and identifying, based upon the evaluation, one or morerecipient disposition characteristics of the electronic message.
 35. Thesystem of claim 34, wherein the identified one or more recipientdisposition characteristics for a specific electronic message is storedwithin the tracking computing system.
 36. The system of claim 35,wherein the specific electronic message is received by a plurality ofclient systems, and one or more recipient disposition characteristicsfor the specific electronic message are identified for each of theplurality of client systems.
 37. The system of claim 36, whereintracking statistics, associated with the specific electronic message,are outputted by the tracking computer system based upon the one or moreidentified recipient disposition characteristics for each of theplurality of client systems.
 38. The system of claim 35, wherein the atleast one hardware processor is further configured to initiate and/orperform: generating a response message based upon the tracked one ormore recipient disposition characteristics; and sending the responsemessage to the client system.
 39. The system of claim 34, wherein the atleast one hardware processor is further configured to initiate and/orperform: comparing the message request with a plurality of rulesaccording to a pre-specified ordering.
 40. A computer program product,comprising: a computer usable storage medium having stored thereincomputer usable instructions, the computer usable instructions fortracking an electronic message between a message server and a clientsystem, the computer usable instructions, which when executed on acomputer tracking system, cause the computer tracking system to perform:receiving a message request associated with the electronic message sentfrom the message server to the client system; evaluating the messagerequest with a rule stored within the tracking computer system; andidentifying, based upon the evaluation, one or more recipientdisposition characteristics of the electronic message.
 41. The computerprogram product of claim 40, wherein the identified one or morerecipient disposition characteristics for a specific electronic messageis stored within the tracking computing system.
 42. The computer programproduct of claim 41, wherein the specific electronic message is receivedby a plurality of client systems, and one or more recipient dispositioncharacteristics for the specific electronic message are identified foreach of the plurality of client systems.
 43. The computer programproduct of claim 42, wherein tracking statistics, associated with thespecific electronic message, are outputted by the tracking computersystem based upon the one or more identified recipient dispositioncharacteristics for each of the plurality of client systems.
 44. Thecomputer program product of claim 41, wherein the computer usableinstructions further cause the computer tracking system to perform:generating a response message based upon the tracked one or morerecipient disposition characteristics; and sending the response messageto the client system.
 45. The computer program product of claim 40,wherein the computer usable instructions further cause the computertracking system to perform: comparing the message request with aplurality of rules according to a pre-specified ordering.